London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Routine NHS services 'to be daily'

Routine NHS services are to be provided seven days a week, a new body has proposed.

The health service "needs to offer greater customer convenience" by running throughout the week, said the NHS Commissioning Board (NHSCB).

The organisation, set up under the Health and Social Care Act, has published its first planning guidance to the NHS.

Hospitals and GP practices will provide services seven days a week, the report states, claiming that the move is "essential" to offer a more patient-focused service. It will also improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs, the report states.

A spokeswoman for NHSCB, responsible for £95.6 billion of the NHS's 2013-14 budget for England, said medical director Sir Bruce Keogh will establish a forum to find a way to implement a seven-day service. He will report on his findings in autumn next year.

As a first step, the forum will look at diagnostics and urgent and emergency care, said the spokeswoman.

NHSCB chief executive Sir David Nicholson said: "The NHS can be justly proud of its achievements. People wait less, they are diagnosed and referred quicker and our hospitals have fewer infections. But everyone in the NHS knows we must continue to improve. There are big challenges, not least the financial backdrop, but we must be ambitious.

"We want to make the NHS the best customer service in the world by doing more to put patients in the driving seat. We are determined to focus on outcomes and the rights people have under the NHS Constitution, as well as ensure those most in need gain most from the support we provide."

Dr Mark Porter, of the British Medical Association, said: "Today's guidance is an extremely ambitious plan for the NHS in England, particularly at this time of major structural change and continuing financial pressure. While many of the aims are laudable, new clinical commissioning groups will have the very real challenge of putting these aspirations into practice.

"While we are committed to improving services at weekends and in the evenings, today's proposals to provide routine NHS procedures seven days a week are too crude and fail to take into account the resources, investment and flexibility that will be needed to achieve this."